


all my heart

by pillowziam



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Abroad, Alternate Universe, Calc Student Liam, Fluff, Kissing, Liam works in a bakery, Literature Student Zayn, M/M, Soulmate AU, fetus ziam, teeny fic, uni - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-20
Updated: 2015-03-20
Packaged: 2018-03-20 07:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3642210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pillowziam/pseuds/pillowziam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After class, Liam raced so quickly to get to his calculus course that he forgot to get his pen back. Although, Zayn couldn't quite leave his mind. For the rest of the day, it was shaking legs and tapping pencils while feeling that the boy with the red sweater could be behind him. Who was he? Why did Liam care so much? Every metronomic heartbeat and soft noise in his peripheral was Zayn. Liam carried him around until evening, hoping to see him lighting a cigarette or wandering the halls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all my heart

It started with a sweater. He was dressed in a baggy, red knit sweater and his hair was held higher than his chin. He seemed egotistical; the kind of boy who wouldn't even give you the time of day if you weren't his style. Judging by the way he held himself, Liam knew that he would never associate with him, not that he wanted to, anyways.

The bell rang, meaning break was over and Liam had to get to his third-block sociology class. He bashfully raced through the halls, smiling at every passing stranger. Most of them smiled back; Liam just brought a welcoming glow. He ran in and sat in the back of the class, closest to the windows where his eyes lit a caramel brown in reflection of the sun. He watched the other students piling around him, racing to sit next to their friends. Liam grinned. Liam certainly wasn't popular, he knew that, but he was the type of person that could befriend anyone if he tried. The way his cheeks turned red with a summer smile as he conversed, the way his voice softly echoed through his lips like honey on toast, his freckles and brown hair; everything about him was alluring.

Maybe that's why Zayn opened up to him.

"Class," boomed Mr. Gray, the university's sociology professor, "today, we have a new student from- where are you from, again?"

"Bradford," said the boy, "it's in England."

"England!" said the professor, "I can tell by your accent! We have another boy from England in the class as well. Maybe he can show you around. Payne? Liam Payne?"

"Here!" chirped Liam, with his regular smirk. He tried to seem as welcoming to the boy, even though he would never in a million years befriend him. Although, he could altruistically try to seem kind, as he usually is. The boy standing beside the professor mirrored Liam's smile.

"Yes, alright." said the professor before patting the boy's back, "Anyways, this is Zayn Malik. I hope you will all welcome him abroad to our university. Zayn, find an empty desk and see me after class if you have any questions or need to catch up."

Zayn scanned the room filled with unfamiliar faces. Being Yale University, an Ivy League school, empty desks usually weren't piling around the corner. After concluding that there was no place for him, Zayn's eye caught the attention of a pair of caramel brown eyes and a constant smile beside an empty desk. He immediately jogged towards the back of the class, pulled up the chair and plopped himself down.

Liam was judging him completely; a rare habit. The way the boy continuously bit his lip, or how he spread his legs too far apart, or how he was centring his focus on the professor's discussion on pheromones but Liam could tell the information wasn't registering in his mind. Pheromones! Liam chuckled. As if by smell, he could be so attracted to someone. Zayn carried around a cigarette smoke and pine scent; while Liam showered every morning and avoided cigarettes and alcohol.

"Hey, do you have a pen?" whispered the boy in the red sweater. Liam jumped at the sound of his voice; the sound of autumn and velvet. It seeped through the air and gave Liam goosebumps, a subconscious sensation.

"Uh, yeah." Liam responded, rummaging through his pencil case. He pulled out a ballpoint pen encased in red; the colour of Zayn's sweater, or the colour of Liam's blushing cheeks. He handed it over to him and their hands met. Liam started tapping his leg, like he does when he's nervous. Why was he nervous? He kept asking himself a billion questions as to why the boy with the soft autumn voice made him so nervous. His hands were warm when they touched- not that it mattered but this boy seemed to radiate heat.

"Thanks, man." answered Zayn, shooting him a sly gunfire smile. It hit Liam directly in the heart.

* * *

  
After class, Liam raced so quickly to get to his calculus course that he forgot to get his pen back. Although, Zayn couldn't quite leave his mind. For the rest of the day, it was shaking legs and tapping pencils while feeling that the boy with the red sweater could be behind him. Who was he? Why did Liam care so much? Every metronomic heartbeat and soft noise in his peripheral was Zayn. Liam carried him around until evening, hoping to see him lighting a cigarette or wandering the halls.

However, Liam didn't see or hear of him for the rest of the day. You would think that an edgy, moderately cute British boy would be spread like fast news in the freshmen halls of Yale; but Zayn Malik remained an unsolved mystery and an unacquainted memory from his sociology class. Liam left school premises to his two-story flat; where he and his friend, Gemma, rented the top half. The flat rested just two blocks away from the university, a brisk 15 minute walk, and many other students lived in the area. Liam could usually get there before the sun set in fall if he didn't spend an hour or two studying in the library. Gemma Styles was the older sister of one of Liam's childhood friends. She had moved out to Connecticut while she was still a freshman and stayed in one of the dormitories until she raked up enough money working at the vinyl store downtown to rent an apartment of her own. When she found out through mutual relations that Liam Payne, a giggly voice often heard in her brother's bedroom throughout her childhood years, was planning to attend the same university as her, she kindly offered the extra room in her apartment if he could pitch in the rent and keep a clean bathroom. Being a junior, Gemma now has less time in between studying and working to sit around and chat, so Liam just leaves sticky note greetings and cookies from the bakery where he works the nightshift every other weekday. That's why he was greeted with surprise when he walked up the stairs and opened the door.

"Liam!" exclaimed Gemma, jumping from the couch, "I ran into the cutest British-Pakistani boy in my literature-"

"Zayn Malik?" Liam asked, lifting an eyebrow and setting his bag on the kitchen table.

"How did you know?" asked Gemma, "Anyways, he has the most gorgeous eyes and he was doodling the entire class with a red pen that looked like your favourite pen and he didn't talk to anyone and he kept tapping his leg so he was probably nervous or anxious and-"

Liam watched with bright eyes as bubbly Gemma rambled on and on about the boy in the red sweater. She would occasionally bat her eyes or run her fingers through her lilac hair. He didn't have much interest to what she was saying until he remembered that Zayn was in both of their classes; Liam being a freshman, Gemma being a junior and Zayn being two months late.

"Gemma," Liam asked, "what do you know about Zayn? I mean, personally?"

"Well, I think he mentioned he's around your age," responded Gemma, "18 going on 19. He's really mature, though, that's why he's taking year 3 advanced literature, but I bet he's taking other literary courses on the side. He told our teacher that's all he wants to do, well, that and-"

"Listen, Gemma," interrupted Liam, looking at the time, 6:24, "I would love to stay and chat but I have a calculus quiz tomorrow and I still have the nightshift tonight."

Gemma nodded understandingly as Liam leaves in routine every other night. He marched to his room where he changed into his work clothes, a black button shirt and green apron, and left. Gemma didn't even have to remind him to pick up a fresh gingerbread cookie and a tall mocha with extra whip. They already live their lives in rhythmic routine; while Zayn probably contributes to a chaotic mess. That was one of the things Liam started to ponder about Zayn on his bus ride into work. The bus ride never lasts long as the coffee shop is in the same downtown neighbourhood, and Liam has already ditched staring out the window because he has seen every street and every building more than enough. Instead, he gazed at the stars. He found it funny how, much like the stars compared to the moon, Liam sees Zayn differently. In reality, the stars are much bigger than the moon, though we see the moon as larger. Liam couldn't get Zayn out of his mind; he sees him as larger and more important to the things that really matter, like how he just missed his stop.

Liam sighed and left the bus driver with a polite 'thank you' as he prepared himself to walk an extra seven minutes to the bakery. Liam buried his neck in his scarf. He probably wouldn't be late, but the sun had already set and he wouldn't have extra time to purchase a sandwich or some tea for dinner before his shift started. And his boss might scold him, not for his punctuality, but for not taking care of his lovely self.

"Evening, Liam!" saluted the nightshift manager, Christiana, as Liam walked in, shivering.

"Evening, Chris." mumbled Liam with a cold tongue. His manager was a petite thirty-something year old with dark eyes adjacent to Liam and lips that curled up when she talked. She was always perky and upbeat, trying to keep Liam in order even if his time schedule didn't call for it. Christiana was less a manager and more a mother.

"Harry couldn't make it, tonight." said Christiana, "It's just you and me."

Liam immediately took off his jacket and scarf and began to work the cash register. Usually, he is quick on his feet and knows every order by heart. Although, tonight, he was moving in all directions in an arrhythmic fashion. He wasn't to blame; every order he took reminded him of Zayn. The glow in someone's eyes mimicked the way he looked at him, the warmth of a hot cup of tea produced the same amount of heat as Zayn's hands. Every person had a little bit of Zayn, a little bit of magic. Christiana must have noticed.

"Li," she said, as the last customer left the bakery, clicking the door shut at 9:28, "you've been working too hard. Why don't you take a break?"

"I can't," said Liam, twinkling his eyes, "my shift doesn't end for another three hours."

"You're being too hard on yourself, Li." said Christiana, patting his shoulder, "Take a break and I'll cover your shift for the next thirty minutes. I'm counting."

Liam knew he could never win an argument with his boss, so he nodded and undid the lace of his apron. He found a high rise chair beside the large front window and sat, staring outside of it. He knew there were never any customers past dusk, with the exception of a few late workers or some university students pulling an all-nighter. Liam knew he would have to take part in that with his calculus quiz tomorrow; not that he would be able to sleep with Zayn's velvet voice at the back of his head. Liam zoned out on the stars, which shimmered in his eyes, daydreaming about the boy he had met earlier today. He almost didn't hear the door open for the last customer of the night.

"Uh, hi," said a familiar autumn-esque voice, "Can I get a venti caramel macchiato?"

"To go?" asked Christiana with her usual sappy tone.

"For here." responded the voice.

Liam spun around and saw Zayn standing with an overly long black trench coat and a book bag. He was probably studying in the library earlier, as Liam would usually do. As Christiana poured and served his coffee without missing a beat, Zayn scanned the shop. He made his way to the boy sitting all alone, gazing at the stars. Zayn almost regarded him as a star; bright, fiery and full of power. He pulled up a chair beside him and smirked.

"It's you, again." said Liam, recovering a slight giggle in his voice. He tried to not make it seem like he had been thinking about him all day; Zayn was probably busy with his own business to care about someone else, someone like Liam.

"Yeah," said Zayn, mirroring the giggle, "I'm Zayn."

"I know," said Liam, recognizing the velvet voice, "you're in my friend's advanced literature class. You're quite a writer, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess." responded Zayn, nonchalantly sipping his coffee, "I really like art, too. The university wanted to display my art and I had already been studying university lit since high school, so they offered me a scholarship."

"Oh," nodded Liam, impressed, "I don't know which direction I'm headed in, but I'm really good at maths. They offered me a scholarship, too. I took sociology as a spare."

"Yeah, same." Zayn agreed, "I mean, we're only 18, which direction do we belong in?"

"Well, I'm not forgetting where I'm from." said Liam, shrugging his shoulders, "Wolverhampton is where my heart is."

"Not me," declaimed Zayn, "my house is Bradford, and so are my family, but I have been searching my entire life for somewhere to call home. Or someone, but I don't know."

Liam smiled at the thought that while noticing that Christiana had left to the back room. The lighting had also dimmed, as it usually does it night when there are no customers, making Zayn's eyes a shade darker. It was just him and Zayn, sipping his tea. Liam started wandering his mind again. What if home wasn't in Wolverhampton with his parents and sister Ruth? What if home wasn't the top apartment floor with Gemma? Maybe home was two arms and a steady heartbeat that matched his. Liam never had much luck with girls and was painfully shy when talking to someone he liked. He would become flustered and his cheeks would turn blood red. Arguably, he found comfort in Zayn. He wasn't nervous.

"I guess it's just you and I." Zayn observed, scanning the bakery once more.

"Zayn," Liam asked, "are we friends?"

"I would hope," chuckled Zayn, finishing his drink, "I haven't really talked to anyone else here. Not just at the university, but in all of Connecticut. I don't really-"

"I understand, I'm shy, too." said Liam, sharing a warm grin. On a first impression, you wouldn't guess Liam was painfully shy and anxious when talking to new faces. He carried a constant welcoming grin, but secretly, he was scared that anyone would accept him. After years old childhood bullying and being let down, he didn't really have many people to call his home. He wondered if Zayn was the same.

"Listen," Zayn started, balling his fists and resting them in the table, beside Liam's, "you could light up a candle for every mistake that you've made and I would follow them home to you."

"Do you-" began Liam, taken aback to what he had just heard.

"Maybe you are my home." said Zayn, looking down, "I see the way your cheeks turn red when we talk, like right now. I see the way you tap your leg and the way your pupils dilate and your eyes light up. No one has ever looked at me like that."

"You, too." was all Liam could say. He didn't realize any of what Zayn had just said. To be fair, Zayn was red, too, but a soft red. The way love feels.

Zayn reached out and opened his fist to grab Liam's sweaty palm. They never broke eye contact, and Liam realized there were more stars in Zayn's eyes than there were in the sky that night. Or maybe in the entire galaxy. Either way, Zayn's heart is as warm as the sun and Liam wanted to be hit by every ray of light, no matter how deep the burn.

"What does this make us?" asked Zayn, finally anxiously looking to the ground.

"Are we still friends?" replied Liam with more curiosity, "Or lovers?"

"I-" started Zayn, gaining some disappointment in his eyes, "I've never been loved, not like this."

"Consider it a start." responded Liam, lifting Zayn's chin with his forefinger. Liam's finger departed from his face until he crept closer and closer, slowly closing his eyes and Zayn did the same. Their lips touched and their mouths interlocked, exchanging a small kiss. Liam did taste like honey, just as Zayn thought. Liam then put his palm to Zayn's stubble and felt his jaw stab him. He caressed his skin and he could feel Zayn getting warmer. Zayn breathed Liam's lips like it was the only source of air and Liam latched on to Zayn's lungs.

"Are you my home, Liam Payne?" whispered Zayn through pecks.

"I'm your home," uttered Liam, "and your heart."

He could feel Zayn smile through his own lips before he mouthed the words, "All my heart."

"I love you, Zayn." mouthed Liam, stroking his stubble.

"I'll love you, forever." Zayn mouthed back, running his fingers through Liam's curly locks.

And they did.


End file.
